The area in the rabbit fence is laid up and ready to grow things:  collards, cabbage, spinach, sorrel and other things that the many bunnies around here consider  to be a Rabbit Buffet.  Onions are already up and a second group is planted for a scattered harvest.  Later I’ll lift some cardboard on the near side to plant some cucumbers.  Black eyed peas will grow in there too, since it’s the area farthest from the house and garage. Black eyed peas attract wasps and yellow jackets, and Dylan is allergic to the stings.

Eliza is getting to be a gardener and wanted to start with some containers.  She got these large wooden crates and chose seeds for some plants that are heirlooms but are smaller varieties for containers.  She’ll plant zucchinis, watermelons and fingerling carrots in them.

Pots are set up for peppers, which historically haven’t done well directly in the ground here, and I never figured out why.  My land will grow almost anything, but I won’t put peppers in the ground any more. Chilies, purple and green jalapenos and sweet bell peppers will get planted in the pots.  Chives are already growing behind them, and my wonderful sage plants are already starting up there too.  I cut and dried so much sage last year and used it in good recipes over the winter.

The tomato bed is set up with weed cloth and trellises to use to hold up several varieties of tomatoes. By using trellises and running bamboo between the tresses, the tomatoes all get by with a little help from their friends. I made tomato sauce last year and also froze some tomatoes after I blanched them and took the skins off, and they’re good to toss into recipes: soups and pasta dishes.

Then our best invention, lol, the bamboo trellis, is  for 3 kinds of pole beans and Limas.  We will be checking it frequently to make sure the engineering that went into it was a scientific study.  Heavy plants, summer thunderstorms, cross your fingers, cos ours are crossed for sure.

There’s still a lot of little cleanup needed, some weeds to be pulled and that will be an ongoing thing, of course.  But things should be easier this year cos I planned it that way, still recovering from a shoulder surgery that limits what I can do.

More pictures, more progress as we go, cos this is the best time of the year for a gardening addict like me. And Eliza is picking up the addiction too, which is nice, cos we can garden together.  Dylan doesn’t get into it, but we’ll grow some things he likes, so he can get into eating some of it.  It’s now a family affair and I love it.